{"id":16602,"date":"2022-01-12T07:00:47","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=16602"},"modified":"2022-01-12T21:07:17","modified_gmt":"2022-01-13T02:07:17","slug":"review-mestiza-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-mestiza-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Mestiza Blood by V. Castro"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"16603\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-mestiza-blood\/mestizablood\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mestizablood.jpg?fit=323%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"323,499\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"mestizablood\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mestizablood.jpg?fit=323%2C499&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-16603\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mestizablood.jpg?resize=227%2C350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"cover of Mestiza Blood by V. Castro\" width=\"227\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mestizablood.jpg?resize=227%2C350&amp;ssl=1 227w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/mestizablood.jpg?w=323&amp;ssl=1 323w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 227px) 85vw, 227px\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Mestiza-Blood-V-Castro\/dp\/1787586189\/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1641759014&amp;sr=8-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><i>Mestiza Blood <\/i>by V. Castro<\/b><\/a><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>Flame Tree Press (January 25, 2022)<br \/>\n<\/b><b>240 pages; $26.95 hardcover; $16.95 paperback; $6.99 e-book<br \/>\n<\/b><strong>Reviewed by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SadieHartmann\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sadie \u201cMother Horror\u201d Hartmann<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After a string of successful releases, <\/span><em>Hairspray &amp; Switchblades<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Unnerving Press) <\/span><em>Goddess of Filth<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Creature Publishing) and <\/span><em>Queen of the Cicadas<\/em> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Flame Tree Press) V. Castro unleashes her first short story collection, <em>Mestiza Blood.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A short story collection of nightmares, dreams, desires, &amp; visions of the chicana experience<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Castro gives a loud, powerful voice to her heritage and women through stories that reflect the horrors she experienced or witnessed growing up as a Mexican American. There are strong themes of patriarchal oppression, vengeance, justice, revenge, racism, classism, and stereotypes infused into urban legends and folklore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the stories are stripped down and raw &#8212; just a peek into the life of a Chicana, like <\/span>\u201cNightmares &amp; ICE\u201d<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or <\/span>\u201cThe Most Wonderful Time of the Year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other tales have a folklore or urban legend style and leave the reader with a repertoire of new stories to tell around the campfire like, <\/span>\u201cDonkey Lady Bridge,\u201d<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span>\u201cDancehall Devil,\u201d<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0or <\/span>\u201cThe Latin Queens of Mictlan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Readers can expect to show up for Castro\u2019s storytelling and receive classic horror tropes seasoned with a special blend of sass, sensuality, and unapologetic female prowess. A tale of demonic possession is twisted into goddess empowerment. Shapeshifters become primal warriors. Zombies put on makeup before they exact their vigilante justice. Sex workers and exotic dancers are the main protagonists, not the faceless bodies writhing in the background.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s difficult for every single story in a collection to stand up on its own merit and be counted as equal. There are clearly some that shine brighter than others, but as a whole <\/span><em>Mestiza Blood<\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> represents Castro\u2019s spirit and spunk. It\u2019s wonderful to see her star rise higher and higher in this industry. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mestiza Blood by V. Castro Flame Tree Press (January 25, 2022) 240 pages; $26.95 hardcover; $16.95 paperback; $6.99 e-book Reviewed by\u00a0Sadie \u201cMother Horror\u201d Hartmann After a string of successful releases, Hairspray &amp; Switchblades (Unnerving Press) Goddess of Filth (Creature Publishing) and Queen of the Cicadas (Flame Tree Press) V. Castro unleashes her first short story &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/review-mestiza-blood\/\" class=\"more-link button bg-gold white\">Continue Reading!<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Review: Mestiza Blood by V. Castro&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80],"tags":[2542,1572,79,1545,2352],"class_list":["post-16602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-mestiza-blood","tag-mother-horror","tag-reviews","tag-sadie-hartmann","tag-v-castro"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review: Mestiza Blood by V. 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